Device for shaping shoes.



E. G. HAWKINS.

DEVICE FOR SHAPING SHOES. APPLIOATION I'ILEi) 1330.15, 1909.

0,866, Patented May 2, 1911.

UNITED sanalnsg g nnr OFFICE.

EDWARD CHARLES HAWKINS, 01: ALLEGHENY, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO SKELOTREE COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

DEVICE FOR SHAPING SHOES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 2, 191 1.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD CHARLES HAWKINS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Allegheny, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Device for Shaping Shoes, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention has reference, generally, to improvements in devices for retaining boots, shoes, and the like in their proper form and shape when the same are removed from the feet of the wearer.

This invention has for its primary object to provide a simple, neat and cheaply constructed device for retaining boots, shoes and the like in their proper form and shape, whereby the same are prevented from becoming distorted, cracked or wrinkled as so frequently happens when the said boots, shoes and the like are removed and left to stand in a wet or even slightly damp condition.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a device of the character and for the purposes above set forth, which will accomplish all the objects and functions of the ordinary wooden shoe-tree, but which obviates the principal objection of said shoetrees, namely, the lack of a proper ventilation and drying of the shoe, because the said shoe-tree fills up the interior of the boot, shoe or the like, thereby preventing a proper circulation of air therein. The present invention being adapted to be arranged upon the exterior of the shoe permits the air to enter into and circulate within the same.

'A still further object of this invention is to provide a means for adjusting or regulating the spring-tension of my present shoe reforming and shaping device.

Other objects of the present invention not at this time more particularly enumerated will be clearly understood from the following detailed description of my present invention.

With the various objects of my present invention in view, the same consists in the novel construction of shoe reforming and shaping device hereinafter set forth, and, furthermore, said invention consists in the novel arrangements and combinations of the various parts, as well as in the details of the construction of the same, all of which will be hereinafter more fully described, and then finally embodied in the clauses of the claim.

The invention is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the sole of a shoe showing the present invention arranged in operative connection therewith, the dotted line showing the shape of the shoe before,

my novel device is applied thereto, the full lines showing the nor al and proper form and shape to which the shoe is brought and held by my novel device. Fig. is a bottom plan view of a shoe with my novel device operatively arranged therewith. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of my novel device removed from a shoe.

Similar characters of reference are employed in all of the above described views to indicate corresponding parts.

Referring now to thesaid drawings the reference character 1 indicates the complete device, embodying the principles of my present invention, the same comprising a form of spring steel wire, the same being doubled upon itself to form a pair of spring arms 2 and 2. ,The said spring arms 2 and 2' are each provided at or near their middle portioip's with outwardly bent or looped portions 3 and 3. The said spring arms 2 and 2 are further provided at their inner ends with outwardly flaring portions 4 and 4c, the ends of said flaring portions 4 and 4 being bent upwardly to form upwardly extending portions 5 and 5, and integrally connected with the free ends of said portions 5 and 5 are inwardly projecting sole-clips 6 and 6'. The outer ends of said springarms 2 and 2 are each provided with upwardly bent portions forming the upwardly extending arms 7 and 7, and integrally connected with the free ends thereof is an inwardlv extending loop portion 8. the same providing a toe-clip. The normal tendency of said. spring arms 2 and 2 is to spring away from each other, and in order to in crease or decrease the spring tension of said spring-arms 2 and 2 in their action upon the shoe there isprovided a tubular runnermember 9slidably arranged upon said spring-arms between the bent or looped portions 3 and 3' and said toe-clip 8. Said runner-member 9 is provided with a faceplate 10, the same bem ada ted to receive upon its face any desira le a vertising matter.

The method of a plying and using my novel device is as fol ows :--The toe-clip 8 is arran ed to engage the toe-portion of the sole 0 the shoe, then the sole 11 of the shoe is bent downwardly until it assumes a normal flat position, the spring-arms 2 and 2' are then spread'apart so that the sole-clips 6 and 6' are caused to respectively engage the opposite sides of the sole 11 at 2'near L the instep plortion thereof. The rise of the sole 11 at e arch 12 places a tension upon the spring-arms 2 and 2, this tension tends to retain the sole l1 and consequently the tions and outwardlg tally removed from its operative engagement with the boot, shoe, or the like.

A device for reforming and shaping shoes, comprising a toe-clip, a pair of rearwardly extending spring-arms connected with said toe-clip, said spring-arms being provided with integral bent or looped orfiaring ends, sole-c ips integrally connecte with the free ends of said spring-arms, a tubular runner slidably arranged conjointly upon said spring-arms forward of said bent or looped portions said tubular runner being adapted to be moved backward or forward with relation to said toe-clip to draw said springarms together laterally and to also increase or decrease the spring leverage of said spring-arms, substantiallv as and for the purposes set forth.

Signed at Allegheny in the county of A1- legheny, State of Pennsylvania, this tenth day of December, A. D. 1909.

EDWARD CHARLES HAWKINS.

\Vitnesses MAX H. SRoLovrrz, M. BAYAN. 

